Review

For the past decade and a half, Infected Mushroom have been bringing out album after album and dabbling in their bizarre, uncanny combination of psychedelic and trance music. The original Converting Vegetarians was divided into two discs; one was based around their already established psytrance style, while the second saw the band reaching towards their more experimental side. Despite a decade-long divide, Converting Vegetarians II serves as a follow-up album, and manages to succeed in some places where its predecessor didn’t. “Animatronica” showcases the band’s (mostly) softer side, with a subdued acoustic guitar in the background and a quirky but jovial synth melody blending in alongside a murky bassline. “Feelings” follows up on this, beginning with a mellow piano solo and slowly progressing into a vibrant, sonorous mix of bass and drums, all topped off by a melodious, simple chorus. The immersion factor works tremendously here, and there’s that ever-present surreal yet vivacious sentiment flowing through the band’s veins. “Fields of Grey” is a far more bombastic, verbose track, featuring a guest appearance from Sasha Grey and a much heavier bass presence, especially towards the latter half of the song.

Converting Vegetarians II thrives most in terms of balance. While the album as a whole stretches itself out over the course of over an hour and fifteen minutes, there’s no sense of monotony or lethargy throughout the entire sequence. There’s a real impression of cohesion here, with the band never losing their balance and keeping things diverse without becoming inconsistent. If there’s anything else that needs to be said about Converting Vegetarians II at this point, it’s that Infected Mushroom aren’t giving up their crown anytime soon, and that their reign over psytrance will continue to flourish in the years to come.

The thing I always liked about Infected Mushroom was that despite the fact they're a bunch of sellouts, they always managed to keep a sense of their original sound and style in pretty much all of their outings. This album is a surprise in itself too, didn't expect a sequel to Converting Vegetarians muchless how good it was.

Don't get the hype tbh. It sounds like what they've always done in the last years, just with lighter and not terribly impressive beats. Same cheesy vocals, same vowel effects, same digital synth vibe. It might be similar to CV 1 in approach, but not nearly as explorative and ethereal. One of the few good things about it is the minimally solid songwriting, still quite impressive production and overall cohesion, the flow is pretty well.

I'm late to the party, but I've always had a soft spot for these guys and they'll be in my area soon. Keen to give it a spin and have some fun at their gig.

One note about the review, you mention that this is a follow-up to CV1 after talking about the differences between each disc on the original, but don't really mention how it's a followup. I don't know if I'm meant to expect the experimental stuff, the same old Infected Mushroom, or if it's an amalgamation of the 2 discs. Some specifics here would be great, but it's a sweet read otherwise